I was surprised when I drove by a large billboard alongside I-94 the other day with a slogan that appeared to be pointed directly at me: “54.5 by 2025.” I did a double-take: Did DrivingGrowth.org start buying billboards ‚Äì but nobody told me? Is the Obama administration touting its new fuel economy standards via outdoor advertising?

“Nexteer, in five or ten years, will be bigger than it is today,” said Niklaus A. Von Matt, product engineering manager at auto supplier Nexteer. He made that prediction at the end of July, when he talked with DrivingGrowth.org about market opportunities for the company’s fuel-saving Electric Power Steering (EPS) system.

With billions of dollars of new investment and jobs begin added in Ohio, Michigan and other Midwest states, a resurgent auto industry, focused on fuel economy, is a key part of America’s clean energy future. That’s the finding from “Regional Energy, National Solutions,” a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the Center for the Next Generation (CNG).

“We have a rule in place,” said Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Environment Group’s Clean Energy Program. “Now we want to have a discussion on what the rule means to industry. How is the industry going to innovate?” Cuttino, speaking on September 18 at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, introduced a panel of industry experts to discuss the real-world impact of new federal fuel economy and emissions rules, which require a U.S. fleet average of 54.5 miles […]